Thimbleberry copyright Sarah Jim, artist. The thimbleberry itself is DEḰEṈ, and the thimbleberry shrub is DEḰEṈIȽĆ.

Thimbleberry is a thornless, upright shrub with distinct peeling bark on mature plants. Its big white flowers are a perfect landing pad for pollinators of all sizes.

This piece was shared with permission by Sarah Jim. Sarah is a visual artist from the small village of W̱S͸ḴEM (Tseycum) in W̱SÁNEĆ, along with Mexican, Russian-Jewish, and English ancestry. Sarah is currently enrolled in W̱SÁNEĆ College in the full-time Indigenous Language Revitalization Program: W̱¸SENĆOŦENIST.

Nestled along the Victoria Harbour Waterfront, the Matson Conservation Area is a rare ecological gem in our region, and a powerful example of what community-led conservation can accomplish. HAT’s Matson Conservation Area is the largest remaining Prairie-Oak ecosystem on the Victoria Harbour Waterfront — an increasingly rare habitat that once stretched across the region prior to colonialization. Prairie-Oak ecosystems are first and foremost food systems, which are the result of Indigenous stewardship and cultivation since time immemorial. The Kwetlal (camas) food system that we now find in the Matson Conservation Area would not exist without the stewardship of the lək̓ʷəŋən Peoples. With so many other similar sites lost to urbanization, development, and neglect the importance of protecting and restoring Matson, and Prairie-Oak ecosystems like it, cannot be overstated.

Poster of AGM event